Why we need to have gratitude to our ancestors

In the course of life, people say “I’m lucky” or ” I have no luck.” There happens many things you couldn’t understand in this point of view. One of the factors which affect our fortune is a relationship between our ancestors and us.

in the course of life 人生の途上で

point of view 観点

factor 要因

affect 影響を与える

fortune 運勢

relationship 関係

ancestor 先祖

When a karma which allows us to be born in this world comes around, our souls look for a country and a family to appear in physical bodies after our soul and indwelling god merge into one by the agency of Ubusunakami（産土神）, a local deity. Our body composed of our soul and dwelling god is born into a family in accordance with our past karma.

allow A to~ Aが〜するのを可能にする

come around 巡ってくる

physical body 肉体

indwelling 内在する

merge 融合する

agency 取り次ぎ

be composed of A Aから構成されている

in accordance with A Aに応じて

past 過去の

First of all, we need to have respect and gratitude to our family line from which we have borrowed a place to appear in physical bodies. Even if your family line looks bad, it has lasted for a long, long time since the birth of the human race. Thanks to the family line, you were able to have a chance to have your own body.

first of all まず第一に

respect 尊敬

gratitude 感謝の気持ち

borrow 借りる

even if S+V たとえSがVするとしても

family line 家系

last 続く

the human race 人類

thanks to A Aのお陰で

Without gratitude to your ancestors who trained themselves in the same family line, a factor of self-denial would arise. Your fortune would die down. Once you were born, you must not forget to have gratitude to and hold memorial services for your ancestors as long as you live. It is not until you practice these that you can toe on the starting line of life. There are many people who cannot so much as toe on the scratch, and remain unstable like a leaf in the strong wind.

train oneself 修行する

self-denial 自己否定

arise 生じる

die down 弱まる

once S+V いったんSがVしたならば

must not~ 〜してはいけない

as long as S+V SがVする限り

It is not until S’+V’ that S+V S’がV’して初めてSはVする

toe on the starting line スタートラインに立つ

cannot so much as~ 〜することさえできない

the scratch スタートライン

unstable 不安定な

leaf 葉

Before you grieve over the present circumstances, you have to be thankful to your ancestors for a miracle of your having been born in this world so as to taste your life. When you come to be grateful to your ancestors, your problems begin to solve themselves fundamentally. To forget the gratitude, with your consciousness fixed on the immediate problems, is one of the causes which make your spiritual body weak. A decline in your spiritual body appears as some disease of your physical body and deteriorates your life energy.

grieve 嘆く

the present circumstances 現状

thankful 感謝している

miracle 奇跡

so as to~ 〜するように

taste 味わう

come to~ 〜するようになる

solve oneself 解決する

fundamentally 根本的に

consciousness 意識

fix 固定する

immediate 目下の

cause 原因

decline 低下

disease 病気

deteriorate 弱める

If you devote gratitude to your ancestors, you can change your life and make it much better. The future of your life is not fixed. Memorial services with gratitude to them are really important.